Two Outsiders United
by Mew Universe
Summary: Seven Millennium Items were created with darkness. One other Item was created with light and hidden apart from the other seven - leaving Fate to deliver that Item to its rightful owner. What kind of powers lie within this Item of light? Please R&R!
1. The Broken Chain

Two Outsiders United - Tale of the Bracelet

_Within our universe, there is Yin and Yang – black and white, female and male, darkness and light. In everything there is and must be balance to prevent chaos. Ancient Egyptian legend tells of the seven Millenium Items, created with the powers of darkness to keep the world from falling to darkness, and of the brave Pharaoh that locked himself in the Millennium Puzzle to save the world from chaos. However, known to none of our day, there was an eighth Item created – one imbued with light to balance with the dark powers of the first seven. If dark forces were to attain the other seven items and unleash chaos on the world, this eighth item would be used to vanquish the chaos and restore balance to the world. _

_However, to protect the Item from being taken by those unworthy of it, all records of this Item were destroyed, and this Item was hidden separately from the other seven. Not even the current protectors of the seven Items or the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb know of the eighth Item's existence. The only one aware of the Item's very existence and powers is the young woman sealed within it- a outsider adopted into Egyptian society and trusted with their secrets._

_With all knowledge of this Item erased from all except her, it is left up to Fate or a Higher Being to place the Item in the hands of one worthy of it. This is the story of the girl sealed in the eighth Item, the Millennium Bracelet, and of the girl in our time with whom the Bracelet is entrusted to. Their bond to each other is crucial for keeping the Bracelet hidden, and to eventually find and aid the Pharaoh in his endeavors. We begin our tale in an average-sized town in America, on the day the Bracelet's power becomes known to a second person..._

The bell rang through the red-brick junior high building, signaling the end of the final period of the day. "Remember to read chapters six and seven in The Count of Monte Cristo by Friday!" the Honors English teacher, Ms. Shiff, reminded the ninth-grade students in her classroom as the chatter increased.

A freckle-faced girl with long curly red hair stood and stretched her arms up. "Alright!" she said cheerfully, lowering her arms. She turned to her friend Vanessa reading a book in the seat next to her. "The end of another great day, Nessa! Time to head home!" she announced with a wide grin.

"Huh? The bell rang?" The blonde, responding to her nickname, looked up from her book and and her blue eyes scanned the room. "Oh, yeah, it did, of course! Thanks, Amber," Vanessa replied to the redhead with a half-smile.

"Welcome!" Amber beamed as another girl with short light brown hair, her and Vanessa's friend Miranda, joined them.

"Hey, you guys heard that famous Egyptian exhibit in New York is coming to our state?" Miranda asked excitedly.

Amber stared at Amanda and gasped. "No way! Really? I love ancient Egypt!"

Miranda laughed. "That's why I remembered to tell you about it! It's going to be displayed in a museum up in the capital for about a month."

"Ooo, we should head up there sometime!" Amber bounced on her feet excitedly, the long white skirt she wore brushing Vanessa's desk.

"We should!" Vanessa agreed, standing up. "Oh, we're going to see the movie tomorrow, right, Mir?"

"Hopefully, unless my dad makes me help him with yard work." Miranda stuck her tongue out at the thought.

"Ouch, I'm sorry," Amber said with slight sadness. She herself hated yard work.

Miranda shrugged. "It's ok. Anyways, let's head!" The three girls picked up their bags and headed out the door.

Later, the three girls stepped off the yellow school bus with the other kids in their neighborhood. "See ya tomorrow, Vanessa! See ya, Miranda!" Amber called to her two close friends as they began walking away.

"See ya!" The two girls chorused back. Amber then turned around and walked home, walking the opposite direction of Vanessa and Miranda.

Humming a little tune to herself, Amber skipped along happily under the partially cloudy sky. A soft wind blew, blowing her skirt and peasant-style top in small waves. Her sneakers squeaked as she slowed suddenly. A plain white building caught her eye, one she had seen many times before without a second thought. Now, though, for some reason she felt like she should investigate it. Large red letters reading 'INFORMATION' labeled the rectangular building on the short side with the door. "Isn't that building abandoned?" she wondered to herself, approaching it slowly. "That's what everyone else says, at least." A happy, wry adventurous smile crossed her lips. "Then I should look around for anything interesting!"

She jogged up to the building. A golden flash streaked her vision, and she skidded to a stop. "Huh? What's this?" she asked, looking over at the trash can where the flash had originated from. Slowly she stepped towards the trash can and removed the lid that had been half on the can.

Amber's eyes widened. "Wow..." she muttered. On top of a tied up black trash bag was a golden chain inside a Ziploc sandwich bag. A couple links on it were broken, and on both ends of the chain were what looked like two halves of a circle. "Fascinating little piece of work," she said with a chuckle, reaching in and grabbing the Ziploc bag.

"Hey! Whaddya doin'?" a scratchy old voice bellowed from the doorway.

"Agh!" Amber yelped, quickly yanking out her hand with the chain in it. She turned and looked at the bald old man the voice belonged to. "Sorry, I just-"

"Don' ya be goin' through my stuff, lil lady!" the man grouched, leaning on the broom in his hand. He stared at her hard with squinty eyes. "I'm tryin' ta run a business, ya know!"

Amber blinked. "Come again?" She leaned to her right, peering past the old man into the shadowy room behind him. "A pawn shop?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Yep, an' I don't appreciate de likes of ya-"

"But sir!" Amber protested, holding out the chain in the bag towards him. "I just found this in your trash, and I was going to ask if you threw it away on accident!" She looked at the chain with a hint of longing. "It's too beautiful to be junk," she said softly. Sunlight sparkled off the broken ends of the chain as her hands shifted slightly. _I feel... oddly attached to this piece of jewelry. Why, though?_

The man raised an eyebrow at her. "Pretty it may be, but it ain't valuable. Had it on my shelf for years- nobody's bought it!"

Amber stared. "Oh," was all she said, still with her arms out in front of her. _I'm surprised you've got customers at all- I never knew this old place had anything in it before today._

Suddenly, the old man threw his head back and roared with half-squeaking, half-rumbling laughter. "If ya want it, little lady, feel free- take it for all I care!" He waved his hand dismissively.

A wide grin broke Amber's face. "Really?" She clutched the chain to her heart tightly. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" She nodded and darted away excitedly towards her house.

The man chuckled, watching the excited young girl run away. "Strange one, she is," he muttered as he began sweeping his porch. "So taken wi' a piece of junk..." He paused, looking up after her again. Slowly a frown curved his lips. "Yet, that jewelry had an odd feelin' to it. Kinda bothered me. Pro'lly means nothin', though." He shrugged, continuing in his sweeping.

* * *

MU: And thus begins the introduction for my Yu-Gi-Oh OCs! Please R&R and tell me what you honestly think of it! :D


	2. Discoveries at the Museum

Amber clutched the plastic-wrapped chain in her hand tightly to her as she approached her light blue house. _Ok, as soon as I can I'll fix this chain! Maybe Mom has some links to replace the broken ones, or a way I can fix the broken pieces._

"Mom, I'm home!" she announced, shutting the front door behind her with her free hand.

"Hey, Amber, we're leaving in an hour, alright?" her mom called down to her from down the hall. She emerged from it and set some papers down on the counter. Amber looked like a younger version of her mom with rounder eyes; both mother and daughter had long red curls covering their backs, brown eyes, and freckled faces. "Can you go see what James and John are up to?"

"No prob, Mom!" Amber dropped her gray backpack ran down the stairs to where she figured her brothers would be, playing computer games.

An hour later, Amber sat in the front passenger seat of the brown minivan, staring out the window in her own thoughts. Another story idea had popped up during English class that day, and she'd written part of it down, but now her mind was working out more details. _What would be the Hunter's purpose for possessing the boy? And if he's truly good, why won't he let James know he's there in his head? It's as if there's more to my Hunter character than meets the eye... Maybe something akin to a Lawful Neutral character? Gah, or maybe he's truly evil and-_

She pulled out the chain out of her green jacket pocket. The chain still was in its bag, since Amber didn't want to lose any pieces. Amber ran her fingers tenderly over the ends of the chain. _They seem to fit together, _she thought curiously. _Maybe it's a necklace? No, too short for that. It could be a bracelet..._

Her mother put the minivan in park. "Kirk, you're in charge of John," she said to Amber's older brother, grabbing her purse. "Amber, will you take my stuff? I need to Crystal out."

"I'll get Crystal out," Amber offered happily, slipping the chain into her pocket again. She quickly hopped out of the car and climbed into the middle row of the car where her baby sister Crystal was strapped into her car seat. "C'mon, baby munchkin, let's get ya out," she said in a quiet, gentle tone to the curly-haired one-year old. Most of her family had curly hair, but for her brothers Kirk, Peter, James, and John, it wasn't obvious because they kept their hair short above their ears. All of her siblings had brown eyes except for James, who had hazel eyes.

Crystal squealed happily as Amber took her out and carried the child on her hip. Amber looked up at the large sign on the building they were in front of. "Hey, I didn't know we were going to the Egyptian exhibit today, Mom," she said, turning to her mom with a confused expression.

"James, hurry up, please," her mom coaxed the skinny ten-year old still pouting in the car. "Yes, Amber, we've been talking about coming here for homeschool for about a week," she replied to Amber. "You must have been daydreaming while we talked about it. Kirk, could you get the stroller out of the back?"

"Yes, mom," Kirk said with a nod. He quickly moved to the back of the van and opened it.

_Well then,_ Amber thought as she adjusted Crystal on her hip, _at least if I'm not able to come with Vanessa and Amanda I've already been here._

Soon, the family was inside the museum. They met up with two other families, both of whom had all their children under the age of ten. Amber, who was fourteen, and Kirk, who was sixteen, lacked anyone their age from the other families, so they wandered through the exhibits by themselves.

"Oh wow, Amber, look!" Kirk's deepening teenage voice reached Amber's ears, and she looked over at the object Kirk was pointing at. "Now that is a sweet sword!"

Amber's eyes and smile grew wide. "Oh, heck yes! That would've been one awesome weapon thousands of years ago!"

"Yeah, too bad it's rusted and stuff," Kirk said with a shrug. He tilted his head up to read the description by the sword.

A stone tablet nearby caught Amber's attention. Tilting her head slightly, she stepped to the left to take a closer look at it. The tablet itself wasn't too big, about three feet by three feet with broken edges, giving it a semi-circular appearance. Egyptian hieroglyphs were etched into the brown stone, and at the center of the stone was a curious eye symbol. At least it was curious in Amber's mind. "That looks eerily fascinating," she murmured.

"What does?" Kirk walked behind Amber. His gaze followed hers down to the stone. "Oh, that's that one famous Egyptian eye symbol, the Eye of Ra or something, I think," he said immediately.

"It's the Eye of Udjat," Amber corrected him, pointing at the information text placed above the tablet.

Kirk shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "Whatever, sis, I was close."

Amber giggled. "Oh, c'mon, it's no big deal." She read the information text, then exclaimed, "Oh! This is interesting! Apparently giant battles weren't the only way conflict was resolved in ancient Egypt."

"Uh, Amber, there have always been politics," Kirk replied flatly with an embarrassed sweat drop.

"I mean besides that, Kirky," Amber retorted, pointing as best as she could through the glass at a sentence in the information text box. "It talks here about ancient religious ceremonies or rituals that helped determine important stuff like who the Pharaoh is supposed to be. They apparently believed in a form of magic..." Amber trailed off, tapping the glass. "But they aren't sure how the system worked."

"That is the way history works, young one."

Amber and Kirk jumped. Spinning around, they saw a man standing there. His skin was a dark brown, his loose robes a light cream color with a turban covering his head. Around his neck was a large golden ankh, and he carried a set of scales in his hand.

Amber cocked her head, puzzled. _Those eyes... they seem... blank and without life, yet they know something important. Who is he?_

Kirk approached the man, eyebrows furrowed. "Who are you?" he asked, annoyed.

"I am a man well-versed in the scripture of ancient Egypt," he replied simply. He walked between the brother and sister, gazing upon the tablet. "Even scripture and knowledge long forgotten by mankind."

Kirk raised his hands up in bewilderment. "What the blazes are you talking about?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Amber commented. She then looked a bit closer at the scales the man held. "Hey, that has an Eye of Udjat on it, like the stone does!" she exclaimed, pointing at the symbol embossed in the item.

"Yes," the man replied. "You are observant." Staring at the tablet, he continued, "Thousands of years ago that symbol held great power, and it was a key part of the magic used in ancient Egypt. This scale I hold was created by that magic and can channel that magic."

"That's ridiculous," Kirk said dismissively, leaning against a nearby bench. "Magic doesn't exist."

"I was thinking the same thing," Amber added. "If it did..." She trailed off, looking down at the ground. _If it did, I'd be more than a simple girl. I'd be able to help people with my great strength and power. Yet..._

The man regarded Amber with a blank yet curious expression. "You are more willing to believe than your friend here," he said to her. "Despite your words, I can see that much in you."

"Um, he's my brother, as well," she corrected him, raising a finger.

"Amber, let's go find Mom. No need to stick around here." Kirk hoisted himself from his slouched position, the red in his red-brown hair reflecting in the light. "Last I saw she was looking at the mummy in the other room."

"Oh, ok." Amber began walking behind her older brother, leaving behind the unusual man. _There was something else about the Eye of Udjat, something at the back of my brain..._ "Hold it!" she exclaimed suddenly, stopping in her tracks. She spun on one foot and darted back to the tablet.

Kirk turned around curiously. "Amber? What are you doing?" He walked hesitantly back to where Amber stood in front of the tablet.

Fishing around in her jacket pocket, Amber finally pulled out the Ziploc bag. "I found this chain earlier today in a garbage can," she explained to Kirk, holding up the bag so he could better see the chain.

Kirk tilted his head as he examined it. "Yeah, what about it?" he asked.

"It's broken, and I think the two ends fit together." Lowering the chain, she held it in her hands and fumbled with it until she had a hold of each end of the chain through the plastic. She brought her hands together until only a thin layer of plastic separated the two ends. When the ends touched, she gasped. "I knew it! Kirk, the ends put together form an Eye of Udjat!" She held the chain in front of her so the newly discovered symbol could be compared with the symbol on the tablet. Her eyes and smile gleamed with excitement. _I knew this was special!_ She thought excitedly as she stared at her chain.

Kirk's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Wow, that's interesting! Maybe it's an artifact straight from Egypt and belongs to the museum!"

The strange man, from next to Amber, also examined the artifact quizzically. "Perhaps, but I do not recognize it," he interjected with his flat tone of voice.

"And have you seen every piece of Egyptian jewelry that has ever existed? I doubt that!" Kirk shot back at the man angrily.

The man paused, then continued, "It may be Egyptian, but it is not a Millennium Item."

"Come again?" Amber asked, shifting her gaze to the man.

He shook his head. "Do not concern yourself with it," he said off hand.

Amber furrowed her eyebrows, staring at him intently. As she did so, she used a rare talent she had been born with but that few people outside of her family actually knew of. As she stared, she reached out to his mind telepathically, reading the very thoughts he was thinking, his surface thoughts.

_The man's name is Shadi. Seven golden Items appear in his thoughts. All of the Items, save one shaped like an ankh, bear the symbol of the Eye of Udjat. These are the Millennium Items- the Puzzle, Ring, Eye, Key, Scales, Necklace, and Rod. He is the one that guards them, for these Items all contain the ancient magic of Egypt, the power of the Shadow Games._

Amber quickly pulled herself out of his mind. "I see," was all she said flatly. Despite her neutral expression, she was freaking out in her head, thinking, _Shadow Games? What the heck are Shadow Games?_

"Yo, Amber, Kirk," a voice said just behind her, tugging her jacket sleeve. She turned to see her brother Peter standing there, wearing an orange T-shirt as bright as his hair, his other hand tucked into his jeans pocket. "Mom's been looking for you two. We're leaving," he told them with a hint of annoyance.

"Alright, alright," Amber shot back at Peter, ripping her arm away from him. "We're coming."

"Yeah, and perfect timing, too," Kirk mumbled, rolling his eyes. He and Peter began walking away towards the homeschool group with mothers struggling to contain their active or crying children.

Before she joined them, Amber turned back around to Shadi. "Perhaps my chain here was created to be a decoy for the real Items," she suggested with a shrug.

"Perhaps," Shadi intoned.

Amber nodded. "Good day, sir," she said before turning and walking away. She slid the chain back into her pocket, thinking, _Well, today's been a weird day, to say the very least. As far as I know, my chain or bracelet or whatever it is isn't ancient or even Egyptian! Yet, I don't like the idea. Then again, I am a romantic, wishing for real magic powers. My telepathy doesn't count as magic. But what are those Shadow Games, I wonder..._

_

* * *

_In the void, there was nothing. What most would consider the darkness in the void was simply the absence of light or concreteness, not true darkness. Then, a figure appeared, a woman dressed in a gown. Her long brown curls shielded her face, and her arms were crossed over her chest. Although her mouth did not move, a female voice, her voice, murmured to herself.

_I... sense someone. Is it the one? Could they be the one that releases me?_

_

* * *

_MU: Dun dun duuuun! Mystery abounds! What'll happen next? Chapter 3 coming soon! Please review this and tell me how I can improve in any aspect (the story itself, my writing style, etc.)_  
_


	3. Repairing the Chain: Powers Unleashed

MU: Oops, I should've put this up in the first chapter... Anyways, as is obvious, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the canon characters from it. They belong to Takahashi-san and the companies that have distributed YGO worldwide. I do own Amber, her family, and all other OCs that show up in my stories (including one soon to be introduced...)

* * *

Several hours later, Amber was at home, dressed in a bright orange nightgown which complemented her deep red curls. Sitting in front of the desktop computer in the family room, she had her email open and was typing away furiously. The chain sat next to her left hand, the computer screen's light bouncing off the plastic.

Her twelve year old brother Peter came up behind Amber and leaned down, setting his chin on her head. "Ouch, that hurt, Peter!" she snapped at him, pushing his head up with one hand. She resumed typing as Peter stood up straight and rolled his eyes.

"What'cha writin'?" he asked.

"An email to Yugi," Amber replied simply.

"Yugi Moto? Your Japanese pen pal?"

"Yep!" Amber smiled as she finished another sentence. "It's amazing he and I have been friends this long, keeping in touch."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Okay... How long have you known each other again?"

Amber's fingers stopped typing as she thought. "Well... since we were both two or three, I guess, back when our family lived in Japan. About ten years, give or take a year."

"Wow," Peter said with little interest. He walked away, and Amber resumed typing. _Oh, almost forgot to tell Yugi about winning first place in the Literature section for the school arts competition. I've also got to ask him how far along he's gotten on that puzzle, too. _She added those thoughts in the end after having written a whole paragraph about finding the chain and going to the Egyptian museum. "Oh, used the wrong word there," she muttered, rapidly pushing the backspace key. What made her emails to Yugi trickier to type than other emails she sent was the fact that she wrote to Yugi in _romanji_, Japanese words spelled out in English characters. When she could, which wasn't very often, she used _kanji_ and_ katakana_ instead of _romanji_ when writing to her childhood friend. Emails she wrote to others were mostly in English, with a couple in Spanish that she sent to her grandparents serving a mission for their church in the Dominican Republic.

Amber clicked the send button with a satisfied smirk. "Perfect, now to work on this," she mumbled to herself, picking up the chain. She walked down the hall to her parents' bedroom and knocked softly on the door.

"Mom," she piped up, sticking her head into her parents' bedroom. She spotted her mother, dressed in green Pjs, searching through a blue laundry basket full of homeschool projects. Her dad walked out of her parents' shared closet. "May I borrow your jewelry making pliers?" Amber asked.

"What for? It's nine-thirty," her mother replied. She looked up with a perplexed look on her face.

"I've been busy with homework since we got back from the museum, and I want to fix this chain I found earlier today." Amber held up the Ziploc bag containing the golden chain in one hand.

"You've finished all of your homework?" her mother asked sternly.

"Yep! Well," Amber began bashfully, "except for one that isn't due until next week, which I've started." She rubbed her neck timidly.

"Your math for homeschool?" her dad interjected from behind her mom.

"For once, yes!"

"Alright, they're over on my sewing table," her mother finished, pulling out a bag from her basket.

Amber beamed. "Thank you!" she said happily, skipping over to the sewing table, where the petite pliers sat atop a stack of binders and cloth. She snatched up the pliers and darted out. Just as quickly as she left she came back in. "Wait, I just realized I need some new links for this chain!"

"You know where my jewelry-making stuff is, but hurry up. I want to go to bed," her mother replied wearily.

"Me, too," her dad interjected yet again.

"Alright, alright, I'll hurry up," Amber said hastily, hands up in protest. She stepped over a box and crouched in front of the plastic drawers that held both sewing and jewelry-making materials.

She found three golden links, all about the same size, and compared them to the links on the bracelet. Unfortunately, the ones her mother had were too small to replace the bracelet's links. "Dang it," she muttered, disappointed.

A sound like a wind chime pierced her ears. Amber looked up and around, startled. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she looked back down at the links she found.

They were now the exact size of the bracelet's links.

_What the heck?_ Amber thought with wide eyes. _Maybe my eyes tricked me earlier. No, I swore that they were too small seconds ago... _She shrugged casually. _Oh well, that means I can actually fix this bracelet!_ She jumped up and jogged out of her parents' bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen.

"Okie dokie, let's get this bracelet put back together!" Amber said happily to herself, setting the broken chain and the new links on the table with soft clinks. "Pliers... check. Links, check. Bracelet, check," she muttered, tapping each item gently as she named them. "M&M's, check." She took a few from the small package she'd opened and popped them into her mouth.

She ran her fingers over the first broken link. It was broken neatly in half and needed to be replaced. Her fingertips tapped the other two broken links. One had been stretched so the ends of it didn't meet, and the other had a small piece missing from it. _Okay, so I'm only going to need two of the three whole link I got, _Amber analyzed as she sat down in a wooden chair. _First action is to bend that second link so the ends touch, then replace the other two broken links with new ones. _She picked up the small red pliers with one hand and secured the stretched link with the fingers of her other hand.

* * *

Outside in the darkened streets, Miranda walked slowly alongside a pale girl with platinum blonde hair. Miranda bit her lip, hazel eyes anxiously glancing at the girl she was with. The pale girl stepped in front of Miranda. Both girls froze- the blonde in anger, Miranda in fear.

"So, remind me," the pale girl began icily. "Why weren't you at my table at lunch?"

Miranda gulped; the gangly brunette had gone through this too many times. "I-I was with Amber and Vanessa. Amber was helping me with homework while we ate."

"Ah." The cool reply from the platinum blonde only made Miranda cringe. The platinum blonde smirked evilly.

"C'mon, Renee, I needed Amber's help on my last World Geography assignment! Tomorrow I'll sit over with you and the other girls, promise!" Miranda protested, clutching her hands together. She glanced down at the pale girl's, Renee's, long fingernails. She shivered.

Renee's smile disappeared. Her eyes pierced Miranda's with rage as she brought her hands up, palm up and fingernails brandished.

* * *

Quickly and efficiently Amber worked. Connecting the new links to the other links in the chain was trickier than she thought it would be, but in just under fifteen minutes she had the stretched link bent back into shape and one of the broken links replaced.

"Amber, it's time for bed," her mother called down the hall.

"I'm almost done, I'll go to bed right afterwards," Amber replied, mostly focused on the bracelet. By now Amber had determined the chain was indeed a bracelet.

Her mother replied after a pause, "Hurry up, then, it's a school night."

"I know." The door to her parents' room shut. Gently Amber pried open a link with the pliers and eased it onto the other links. She pinched the ends together with the pliers, securing the link.

"Perfect!" she said to herself excitedly. Standing up, she picked the chain up with both hands and held it up to the light. Her eyes shone with awe as light glinted off the golden bracelet. "Wow..." She stepped sideways away from the table. "I think I'll try it on now. Looks like it should fit." She maneuvered the bracelet so both ends were between fingers on her right hand. She then slid both ends over her wrist and pushed them together.

_Click!_

Amber jumped and yanked her right hand back. To her surprise, the ends still fit together perfectly.

She lifted her wrist until the bracelet was level to her caramel brown eyes. _Not a single indication that the eye was ever snapped in half! Fascinating! _After admiring it close up for a few seconds, she lengthened her arm out and gazed at the bracelet from a distance. _I did it! It's beautiful! _Amber smiled widely.

Light from the light bulb above glinted off the eye on the bracelet. Then, the bracelet began to glow with its own light.

_(MU: Insert Yugi's transformation music from _Yu-Gi-Oh! _Season 0 here. Y'know, the music that plays when Dark Yugi takes over.)_

Amber's eyes widened and she gasped. "What the..." she whispered, shocked. All she could do was watch as the eye of Udjat shone brighter than the rest of the bracelet.

Had she thought to look behind her, she would have seen her shadow grow larger, an Eye of Udjat appear on the shadow's forehead, and a pair of featureless glowing eyes open on its black face.

The glowing from the bracelet became a blinding light. Amber covered her eyes with her right arm. Her shadow loomed over her, then crept down the wall and wrapped itself around her feet. The shadow vanished, Amber's body shone as bright as the bracelet- and a strangled cry burst from her throat as her body went limp.

She began falling backwards. Her hands grabbed the chair, stopping her fall. Eyes still closed, she slowly stood upright, straight and full of confidence.

Her eyes flew open. They were now a dark earthen brown, filled with wisdom and determination. Her face seemed to change, also, taking on age to appear older and wiser. Had anyone witnessed this transformation, they would have wondered if this was still the same Amber they knew.

She released the chair and ran to the stairs. Taking the stairs two steps at a time, she yanked a maroon jacket off the stair railing and thrust it over her arms before opening the door and slamming it shut behind her.

_Something is happening out there... Justice must be satisfied._

She ran out under the street lights down the street. For the moment, she was the only figure that could be seen, the bright orange nightgown she wore fluttering underneath the too-large jacket.

* * *

Miranda was slammed against a tree with a cry. Her face was scratched up badly, but her hands and arms were worse. Blood dripped from a fresh wound on the back of her hand.

Looming above her, Renee stared critically at Miranda. Her fingernails had red streaks on them, the source of them unmistakable. "Remember," she began in a demeaning tone, as if Miranda was a misbehaving child. "You are my friend, and you are not to hang out with those two ever again. Got that?"

Miranda opened her eyes slowly, her breathing ragged and shaky. "B-but... Renee, they're my friends..." she moaned.

"Shut up!" Renee slapped Miranda's face hard. Miranda curled up in a ball, shaking. "Remember what I told you now." Renee's blue eyes shot daggers at the injured girl. "See you at lunch tomorrow." With that cool farewell, Renee turned on her heel and began walking away slowly.

Renee smiled, her long blonde hair appearing white in the moonlight. _Girls are so easy to control, even girls like her,_ she thought evilly.

"Renee," a deep feminine voice said sharply from behind her.

Renee gasped. She spun on her heel, expecting to see an adult woman standing there. Instead, all she saw was a girl with curly red hair- or was her hair brown? Renee wasn't sure- wearing an orange dress underneath a maroon jacket slightly too large for her. On her left wrist, a golden chain glimmered under the street lamp. Renee couldn't tell how old the girl was, but still she barked fiercely at the girl, "Who are you? What do you want?"

The girl narrowed her chocolate brown eyes at Renee. "It's game time."

* * *

MU: Dun dun duuuuun! Don't ya love the suspense? Anyways, whether you like this story or not, please leave a review saying why it's so super special awesome or why it's the worst fanfic you've ever seen (and emphasis on the why- I write fanfics to improve my writing skillz).


	4. It's Game Time! Memory Match

Renee's eyebrows scrunched together on her pale face. "Game time?" she asked, confused and annoyed.

"Yes," the red-haired girl replied simply in a dark tone. Renee still couldn't tell whether the girl matched her in age or not. The girl reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. "You've played memory match games before, correct?"

Renee rolled her eyes. "Of course I have, they're easy!"

"Then you will have no problem with this game," the girl replied coolly, holding the deck face up in one hand. She turned her hand over and swept it in the air in a half circle. A white rectangular desk-like surface appeared from nowhere. Cards shot out from the girl's hand and arranged themselves in neat rows of five cards by five cards.

Renee's eyes widened. _What kind of insanity is this?_ she thought with fear she tried not to show. _Am I going crazy?_

A small, wry smirk crossed the girl's face. "The rules of this game are simple," she began knowingly, her eyes studying Renee as she smiled. "You flip over two cards, and if they match, you win that pair. If not, you flip them face down again. Whoever has the most matches wins."

"Yeah, I know that already! If that's all, let's start this!" Renee spat angrily.

The girl held up one finger. "There is one catch in this game." She waved one hand down at the rows of cards. "Look closely at the board. Do you see what is amiss?"

"Huh?" Looking down, Renee scanned her eyes over the cards. After a few seconds of silence, she gasped. "Hey, there's an odd number of cards here!" she accused, pointing at the last card in the last row. "There should be twenty-four cards, but you put out twenty-five!"

"That is correct," the girl replied evenly, arms crossed over her chest. "In this game, there is an additional rule. Among the cards, there is one card without a match- the Joker. If you flip the Joker up, you forfeit all your matches to your opponent, and the cards on the board are shuffled and reorganized."

Boring her dark gaze into Renee's blue eyes, she asked, "Do you accept my challenge?"

Renee smiled evilly. "Of course I do! Even though games are usually childish, this looks like fun! Besides, since it's so easy, it won't take long."

"Very well," the girl replied, still with a wry smirk on her face. It hadn't vanished since she began explaining the game. "Let us begin." She held her hand out towards Renee. "You may start the game."

"Why, thank you," Renee replied with a chuckle. She flipped over the two cards closest to her. The first card was a five of spades; the second was a three of diamonds. "Dang it!" Renee muttered, snapping her fingers. She flipped the two cards back over.

"My turn," the girl said simply. She flipped over the card in the middle and the card next to it. They were the five of diamonds and the three of spades.

Renee laughed mockingly. "Guess you aren't so lucky, friend," she mocked the girl. Taking her turn, she flipped over two fours of diamonds- a match. "While my luck is starting to come into play." Renee picked up the cards and set them in front of her on the table face-up.

Without a word, the girl flipped over two corner cards. They were the two fours of spades. Silently she picked them up and placed them in front of her.

Renee flipped over a five of diamonds. "Hey, I know where the other one is!" she said with a laugh. She reached to the middle card and flipped it over, revealing the other five of diamonds. "Ha, looks like I'm luckier than you!" She grinned and added her second match to her first one.

"It is not just luck," the girl replied. Her wry smirk and cool, confident tone of voice hadn't changed one bit since the game began. "It is both luck and strategy." She flipped over the two of diamonds and the Joker.

Renee laughed again. "Oh really? Well, hand over your match now, girl!" The girl silently picked up her fours of diamonds and held them out for the cocky blonde to take. "Now to shuffle the rest of the-what the?" When Renee looked down at the board, the remaining cards where shuffling themselves. They set themselves back out in neat rows, and Renee thought, _Maybe I am going nuts... or she's cheating somehow._ She glanced up at her opponent angrily. _I'll find out how she's cheating._ She reached out for another card to flip over. _Her smile is getting on my nerves, too. It's as if she's planning something._

The game continued in this relatively smooth fashion, each girl alternating turns to flip over cards. Like with all memory match games, sometimes one of the two opponents would draw a match right away, other times they didn't. During the duration of the game, the red-haired girl flipped over the Joker two additional times, while Renee flipped it over only once. Soon the memory part of memory match became more essential with each match earned. Eventually the game dwindled down to five cards remaining. Renee was in the lead with six matches, while the other girl had four.

Renee flipped over the two tens of spades. "Yes, I knew they were there!" she exclaimed excitedly as she picked them up. "Your turn!" she said to her opponent in a taunting tone.

A light wind stirred the other girl's long curls as she reached down for a card. Slowly she turned it over, revealing the eight of hearts. She lifted her hand and flipped the card closest to Renee. It was the Joker.

"Awww, what poor timing to flip over the Joker!" Renee mocked, barely holding back malicious laughter. "Guess I win your matches and the game!" She held out her hand towards the girl.

The girl picked up her cards and handed them to Renee. "There is still one match left," she reminded Renee. The remaining three cards on the table shuffled themselves and lined up in a neat row in the middle of the white board.

"Ha! That match will be easy to get!" With that said, Renee flipped over the left and right cards, leaving the middle face-down. The left card was the eight of hearts- but the right was the Joker.

"What? But how?" Renee demanded in shock. She glared at the girl for explanation.

"There is a greater chance of choosing the Joker with so few cards left," was all the girl said as she held out her hand towards Renee. Renee thrust her matches towards the girl, and the girl took them gently. Setting the matches in front of her, she waited for the cards to set themselves back in a row before reaching out and choosing two cards. She picked the middle and right cards, both of which were the eight of hearts. "Looks like I win," she said, setting the last match with the rest of her cards.

"No! You couldn't have! You cheated somehow!" Renee shouted, pointing at the girl accusingly. The white board the cards had been placed on vanished slowly like mist.

"I cannot cheat in a Judgment Game," the girl said with a shrug.

Renee froze. "Judgment Game? What's that?"

"It is what we just played." The girl's face became serious, her eyes piercing like claws. She picked up the last card from where it sat in the air and held it up so Renee could see the Joker's laughing face. "A Judgment Game shows the contents of a person's character- and it has proven you guilty."

Shivers invisibly shook Renee's body. She lowered her arm slowly. "G-guilty of what?" _Ok, she's the one that's nuts!_

"Guilty of selfish manipulation to build up your our status and reputation. Guilty of assault, both physical and emotional." As the girl said these words, they shocked Renee, as if Renee was a criminal, and her dark-eyed opponent the gavel-wielding judge. Tapping the Joker card with her thumb, the girl continued, "This card is like Miranda. You have used her indirectly through others for years, forcing her to be your 'friend', when in reality she is not a true friend to you. Your plans usually worked when other so-called friends of yours confronted her- but, like in our game, when you tried to use her yourself, it only led to your downfall."

Shaking visibly now, Renee was too stunned to speak. _How did she know I've known Miranda that long? How did she know I've told her to be my friend or else she'd get hurt?_

"And," the girl continued, "like this Joker, Miranda has always put a smile on her face, never letting a soul know about your abuse." She slid the Joker back into the deck of playing cards and stuck the deck in her pocket. "No longer shall she suffer."

She held her left hand out towards Renee- and a strange glowing eye appeared on the girl's forehead. "The gavel of judgment has fallen," she said in monotone. Her curls began swaying on their own. "May your sins torment you until you desire to repent."

Slowly, Renee's platinum blonde hair began drifting around her, floating on its own. Her body glowed, making her pale skin and blue eyes even paler than normal. She couldn't move her mouth or even lift her tongue to cry out. Her pupils shrank. Then, pain like a hundred thousand needles pierced her mind, and she screamed. The light vanished, and Renee fell to her knees on the ground. Her whole body shook; she stared at the sidewalk cement without truly seeing it. "W-what have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?" she exclaimed, covering her face and weeping openly. "All those girls... So many I've hurt... What have I done..." she wept to herself.

The eye disappeared off the mysterious girl's forehead as she stood and watched Renee, arms crossed over her chest. Nothing in her eyes or face showed any remorse for Renee, or any emotion for that matter. Renee continued to weep and mumble softly, bemoaning her wrongs. After a few seconds the girl turned her back on Renee and slowly walked away. Renee didn't even notice the girl leaving as her long blonde hair covered her face and hands.

Walking down the sidewalk, the red/brown haired girl found Miranda curled up at the base of a tree. She crouched by Miranda and checked the lanky girl's pulse. Nodding, she whispered, "She's only asleep. Good." The girl gently turned Miranda onto her back and lifted her off the ground. Miranda stirred slightly but did not wake up. Streaks of dirt on Miranda's capris were as evident as the healing bruise on her calf. Silently the girl strode down the street with Miranda in her arms, as solemn as a spirit wandering the night.

* * *

MU: Ok, I don't want to interrupt the story flow much, so I put my author notes at the end of chapters. Thanks to mia826 for her enthusiastic review here, to the deviantart user xXPharaohKissesXx for her review on my deviantart profile, and thanks to all of you that have read this story! Chapter 5 coming soon :)


	5. Aftermath

MU: I suppose I'd better stick a disclaimer here again. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the canon characters I choose to feature in my story. I do own Amber, Vanessa, Miranda, Renee, and all my OCs. Most of the characters here are OCs, as you can tell, but there will be a canon charrie featured this chapter!

* * *

The orange morning light peeked into the small bedroom where Miranda lay on the bed, covered with a blue blanket. Slowly the brown-haired girl opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. "Hey, how did I get home?" she asked herself, sitting up slowly. Rubbing her head with the heel of her hand, she gradually removed the blanket from off her legs. After a few seconds of staring at her legs tiredly, she realized that she was still wearing the white shirt and dirt-streaked capris from the night before. _Man, I'm tired... I don't even remember coming home and getting in bed,_ she thought, rubbing her eyes. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and touched her sock-covered feet to the carpet. It was then she noticed her well-worn shoes sitting right next to her feet.

Miranda looked at the shoes for a moment. _I don't remember taking off my shoes, either, _she thought as she stood up. She walked over to her dresser- and paused. A folded piece of lined paper sat next to Miranda's new black watch. Picking up the paper, Miranda opened it curiously and read the short message written in black Sharpie marker:

**Tell your true friends about what Renee has done.**

The handwriting was slanted and slightly messy, as if the message had been written quickly. Miranda turned the paper over, but she couldn't find the name of the mysterious person that wrote the note. There were some odd box-looking lines underneath the message itself, but they meant nothing to her. She read the message again. _'Your true friends'... Vanessa and Amber. This means I can tell them now, right?__ But... Who left this note? Who helped me?_

* * *

"Amber, please hurry and eat," Amber's mother asked yet again as she picked up the crying one-year old Crystal. "No time for daydreaming this morning!"

Amber looked up from the golden bracelet on her wrist. "Okay, Mom," she said half-alert, taking another bite of her cereal. She finished her cereal as James and John began yet another footsies war and picked up her red backpack from next to her chair. Hoisting it onto her back, she looked back down at her bracelet proudly. _It's gorgeous, and I fixed it myself. This is definitely my favorite piece of jewelry,_ she thought with a smile. It certainly complemented the light yellow babydoll shirt she had chosen to wear that day.

"Amber, Peter's already in the car! Come on!" her dad barked, beckoning at her furiously.

Jolted from her daydreams again, Amber looked up and ran down the stairs from the kitchen. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she said hurriedly as she ran out the door her dad held open.

Amber pushed open the glass door in her school building leading to the spacious lunch room. The walls and floor were white, contrasted by the maroon tables and chairs interspersed everywhere. She jogged through the lunch room to a hall where Vanessa was getting textbooks out of her locker.

"Hi Vanessa!" Amber waved and greeted her friend with a characteristic wide smile.

Vanessa looked past the pink door of the locker. "Hey, Amber," she replied, smiling back as she balanced all her books in both arms.

"Here, let me hold some of those books for you," Amber offered happily, taking Vanessa's Biology and World History textbooks from her.

"Thanks! It's so hard getting everything, with Miranda's stuff in here and thicker books every year," Vanessa said as she pulled a binder out of her locker.

"Oh, you share a locker with Miranda?"

"Yeah, she forgot her combination then her lock broke, so we decided to both use mine. My locker, that is." Vanessa now began stowing needed school supplies into her backpack.

"Ah, I see. Oh, speaking of Miranda, have you seen her yet this morning?" Amber looked around for a moment with a quizzical expression.

Vanessa shook her head slightly. "No, she usually doesn't show up until a few minutes before class to grab her books."

"Oh, gotcha!" Amber gave Vanessa a thumbs up.

"Hey guys," a familiar voice said tiredly behind Amber. She spun around to see Miranda there.

"Hi Miranda!" Amber greeted enthusiastically, unable to wave to her friend because of the books she held. "How are you this fine day?"

Miranda half-smiled. "I'm tired," she replied, shaking her head slightly with eyes closed. "I hope I stay awake during history today."

"Yeah, me too," Vanessa chimed in, taking her books back from Amber. "I stayed up reading more _Vampirates_."

"Bleh," Amber replied to Vanessa, sticking her tongue out. "Vampires..." She shuddered. "Don't like 'em."

"Well..." Miranda began, looking down at her feet.

"What were you doing up so late?" Vanessa asked curiously, pushing some of her short blonde hair behind her ear.

Miranda looked up. Uncertainty struck Miranda's hazel eyes so strongly that it jolted Amber mentally. _Something's really wrong with her today. She always says what's on her mind,_ Amber thought worriedly. Her telepathic senses gently brushed over Miranda's mind as she asked, "Miranda?" She put a hand on Miranda's shoulder. Vanessa stuffed everything in her backpack and stuck in on her back, her worried expression mirroring Amber's.

Taking a deep breath, Miranda finally said, "Vanessa, remember Renee from second grade?"

Vanessa's eyebrows furrowed together, her expression dark and angry. "Yes," she seethed. "What about her? What did she do?"

Miranda gulped, looking down. Amber looked between both of her friends, very, very confused.

The bell rang, and the halls slowly filled with pre-teens and teenagers. "Uh, I'll tell you at lunch. Gotta go ask Mr. Woodworth about our last Biology assignment before class," Miranda stammered out hastily, shouldering her backpack. "See ya!" She managed a smile before walking away.

"Uh, Miranda, wait up! I'm in your class!" Vanessa shouted, slinging her backpack against her back hard. "See ya, Amber!" she called back before darting away.

"See ya!" Amber said with a wave. Her smile drifted away as she wondered, _What ever could be wrong? Even looking into Miranda's mind didn't help. All I saw was the brief image of a really pale girl... with blood on her fingernails. Ew. _With a sigh, Amber turned and walked down the hall.

* * *

At lunch, bright spring sunlight shone onto the table Amber, Miranda, and Vanessa were sitting at. Tentatively, Amber pulled her sandwich out of her lunchbox, glancing between Vanessa and Miranda. Miranda had just finished telling her tale, and Vanessa hadn't even touched the food on her tray as she gaped at Miranda. "Renee's been pushing you around like this since fifth grade? And you didn't tell anyone?"

Miranda shook her head boldly. "No way! If I did, she would have gone after my little sister or you! She's sneaky like that, making other girls act like her friends, but she makes her posse enforce her rules." She clenched her lunch bag, the paper crunching under her tense fingers. "That is, until she thinks you're being too independent."

"What did you do that made her lash out at you like that?" Amber asked meekly.

Miranda waved her arms in the air in exasperation. "All I did was sit by you guys and ask you for homework help, Amber. She was fine with me doing it for a while, but then..." She sighed, shaking her head. Amber knew what Miranda meant; for most of the school year, Miranda sat with her and Vanessa, but she'd heard from Vanessa that sometimes the two friends sat at seperate tables.

Vanessa, her blue eyes mirroring Miranda's anger, pounded her fist on the table. "Curse her! I hope someone gives her a taste of her own medicine!"

"Uh, someone did," Miranda said.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Who? And when?"

Miranda tapped her lip. "Last night, and... I don't know who, really. She had red hair, though. At first I thought it was Amber."

"Huh?" Amber screeched through a large bite of her PB&J.

"But her voice was really different," Miranda continued despite Amber's stare. "Older, more experienced... She said something about a game, but after that, I kept blacking out. I don't know what she did to Renee, or how."

"Hmm..." Vanessa and Amber both hummed, thinking hard.

"At least Renee isn't here today," Vanessa said with a hard tone in her voice. "Look over there." She pointed behind Amber; Amber and Miranda turned around and saw a group of stylishly dressed girls. "Susie Q there's leading them today," Vanessa added, gesturing to the girl with perfectly set black ringlets and a loud laugh. Amber had seen the girls many times and knew one of the clique was missing.

After a moment of studying the girls, Amber asked Vanessa and Miranda, "Hey, isn't Renee the one with the blonde hair that's almost white?"

"Yep," Miranda replied.

"Oh yeah, I know her!" Amber replied, turning around. "I remember back in second grade when her hair went down all the way to her ankles!"

"Vanity is just one of her traits," Vanessa murmured as she opened her milk carton.

Miranda nodded. "She cut her hair a long time ago, though. Still, she's vicious. I hope whoever rescued me made her pay!"

Amber simply nodded, eyes worried as she continued eating. A few silent moments passed between the three friends. Amber then spoke up again, saying, "I know that person wasn't me, Randy Bob," she began to Miranda; Amber called her by the nickname Vanessa had given her up at their last week long campout with other girls from their youth group. "I was at home fixing up this bracelet I found in a garbage can," she said with a wide grin, holding out her left wrist.

"Oh wow, that's pretty," Mandy said, lifting her eyebrows.

Vanessa leaned over the table to get a better look at the bracelet. "Is that an eye on it?"

"Uh... yeah." Amber pulled her wrist back and looked over her new jewelry a bit closer. "Something wrong with that?" she asked as she turned her wrist over a few times.

With a shrug, Vanessa replied, "It's just a bit weird, that's all. Whatever, you are you."

Amber giggled. "You got that right!" Just then, a baby carrot sailed in an arc onto their table, hitting Miranda's hand.

"Hey!" Miranda glared at the glasses-wearing boy sitting at the table next to them. "Don't shoot those over here!" she barked at him. The boy simply rolled his eyes, shoving the boy in a black jacket next to him.

Amber didn't pay attention to either of them, though. Rather, her attention was drawn to their friend, a boy with chocolate-colored skin and long black hair that reached to his chin. As usual, he wore a black Star Wars T-shirt with his jeans, and at the moment she looked at him he was laughing at his two carrot-shooting friends.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Goodness, Amber."

"What?" Amber questioned, now looking at the blonde.

"You still like Andrew?" She quickly glanced at the black-haired boy and shuddered.

Amber looked back at Andrew. "Yep," she said with a satisfied smile.

"He grosses me out," Miranda said, shuddering.

"Not me," Amber said dreamily, her head on her fist. Vanessa and Miranda sighed and shook their heads.

* * *

In Domino City, Japan, 14-year old Yugi Moto entered the Kame Game shop, shoulders drooped. "I'm home, Gramps," he called out monotonously as he shut the door. His hair looked as depressed as he did, water dripping from the magenta tips and his blonde bangs. His whole uniform was soaked, as was the backpack on his back and the box in his hand.

Yugi's grandpa turned around from putting away a box behind the cash register. "Hello, Yugi, how was your day?" he asked cheerfully.

"It was good," Yugi began as his grandpa walked around the counter, "but it doesn't help being pounded by a hose full-blast when I'm putting together a puzzle."

"When did that happen?" his grandpa asked with concern.

"During lunch," Yugi replied, sighing. "And this is the new puzzle you gave me, too." He held up the box as it dripped.

"Goodness! Let's get a fan on it quick! We can save it!" Grabbing the box from Yugi's hand, his grandpa dashed around the counter and to the back room.

Shaking his head, Yugi called back to his grandpa, "I doubt it. Some of the pieces are fraying at the corners." He leaned against the clerk counter and stared at its smooth surface. Getting himself and his new puzzle was only part of the reason he was depressed. _I haven't gotten any closer to figuring out my other puzzle, either... my treasure._ He took off his backpack and pulled out a golden box. Setting the box on the counter, he stared at the eye on it long and hard. _Gramps has discouraged me from trying to put it together so many times, but I still want to_, he thought sadly._ I want it to fulfill my wish... My wish for true friends that will never betray me._

"Yugi, isn't today a day you get an email from your American friend?" his grandpa asked him from the back room.

Startled, Yugi quickly slid the box back into his backpack. Then, what his grandpa had said finally hit him. "Oh yeah, Amber emails me today!" he said aloud with a huge grin. He ran up the stairs and past his mother's room to the office, where the family desktop sat with the screensaver running. He clicked open a web browser and signed into his email, where it said "1 New Email". "Awesome!" Yugi muttered to himself. He opened the email with "Latest news from America!" in the subject line and read it eagerly.

_Konichiwa, Yugi-kun!_

_Wow, it's great that you passed that English test! I'm glad to have helped you practice. :) You help me just as much with my Japanese. Yesterday when I went to Wal-Mart with my mom, there was an elderly Asian man trying to talk to a cashier, but the cashier wasn't understanding the man's English at all. Well, I went up and spoke to the man in Japanese, and he understood me perfectly! I acted as a translator and helped him make his purchases. Both he and the cashier thanked me, and my mom told me I'm much better at Japanese than she ever was. Awesome, right? I'm still really good at English, though- last week my junior high had a Reflections contest, and I won first place in the Literature section! If you want, I'll send you the short story I wrote for it._

_I wish I could have watched you at that last track race you had a couple weeks ago. Sure, you didn't win, but it would have been nice to watch. At least you beat your last time on that one. How far along are you on solving that golden puzzle of yours? Have you figured out how it goes together? From how you described it, it sounds pretty hard. You're a pro at that kind of stuff, though. I'm better at reading and I've been trying jewelry-making._

_Oh, speaking of jewelry, I found the coolest bracelet. Some guy that owns a pawn shop had thrown it in a trash can and said I could keep it. Several of the links are broken, though, so I'm gonna fix it tonight. The center piece is snapped in half, too, don't know how I'm going to fix that._

_A museum over here is hosting a famous Egyptian exhibit, and my family went to it tonight for homeschool. It was so cool, with all the ancient stuff. Kirk and I really liked this one sword, and the papayrus (I have nooo idea how to spell it in English or Japanese, so I'm guessing) scrolls with the pictures were really sweet. There was also this stone tablet with a symbol called the Eye of Udjat on it, which matches the broken center on my bracelet! Isn't that so cool? This one weird guy in a turban said it probably wasn't Egyptian at all, but he was really crazy in the first place, talking about magic and stuff. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was magic? (Yes, I've asked you that a hundred times already, but I still think magic = awesomeness!)_

_Well, gotta log off, now! We should try talking on the phone or chatting online sometime, even though there's a huge time gap or whatever it's called._

_Your friend always,_

_Amber_

Yugi laughed a few times as he read the email. "Oh, Amber," he sighed, leaning back in his chair. He shook his head and said to himself. "You haven't changed, and you're so funny." His smile and relaxed pose showed just how much Amber's email had cheered him up. _Amber and Tea are my only real friends... but Tea has been really busy with dance lately, and Amber lives all the way over in America. I still feel lonely sometimes, but at least Amber emails me and I talk to Tea at school._ He interlocked his fingers behind his head and remained there for a few moments of silence.

"Yugi, I saved the puzzle! It's dry!" his grandpa yelled from downstairs.

"Awesome, Grandpa! I'll get it in a moment!" Yugi called back, sitting up. He moved the mouse to point the cursor at 'Create New Email', but then he noticed he missed a few lines of Amber's email.

_P.S. Tell Tea to email me, ok? It's been over two months! I want to hear about her dance classes!_

_P.S.S. Isn't your golden puzzle called the Millennium Puzzle or something like that? The turban guy from the museum said something about Millennium Items that had magic powers, and one of them was a Millennium Puzzle...It probably doesn't matter, but I'm curious._

Yugi furrowed his eyebrows. "Millennium Items? Hmm..." He pulled out the golden box from his backpack again and set it next to the computer mouse. "This is called the Millennium Puzzle, but all that magic stuff is just a legend, isn't it?" With a shrug, he smiled and turned his attention back to composing a new email for Amber.

He was halfway through it when he heard his mother call him for dinner. Sighing, Yugi saved the draft and minimized the web browser. "I'll have to finish later," he said to himself. "Coming, Mom!" he yelled, sweeping the Millennium Puzzle box into his backpack and running to his room. _Better put this away first,_ he thought, tossing his backpack onto the bed and dashing downstairs.

The box containing the Millennium Puzzle shimmered within Yugi's backpack.

* * *

MU: Yeah, a bit of a slower chapter, but still part of the story. Coming up - Amber and Yugi's further correspondence, finding clues about the Items, and the second Judgment Game! Please leave a review!


	6. An Email to Yugi and a Homework Bully

"Peter, may I please use the computer?"

"I'm almost done with it!"

"Ok, hurry, please." Amber flopped onto the couch with a sigh. _I really, really want to read Yugi's email,_ she thought impatiently. _It's been two days since I wrote him, and I wasn't able to check yesterday._ She then sent telepathically to Peter's mind, _{Are you done yet?}_

"No!" Peter barked at her, exasperated as he kept his eyes on the computer screen.

Amber sighed; she could hear James and John yelling at each other from downstairs. _If only I had my own computer like Kirk does,_ she thought. _Then again, he freakin' built his own. I couldn't._

"Here, I'm done," Peter mumbled, pushing the chair back and standing up.

"YAY!" Amber was at the computer before Peter had taken the four steps' distance from the computer to the kitchen. "Finally, I can reply to Yugi-kun!" she said happily to herself in Japanese. Her fingers flew and led her Web browser to her email screen. "Awesome! He did send me an email yesterday!" she said in English as she opened his email.

_Konichiwa Amber-chan,_

_It was really nice to get your email. It always is, but this one was especially. My day sucked before I checked my email inbox. For one, I had been soaked by a hose during lunch while I was working on a new puzzle Grandpa gave me. It ruined the puzzle, and I got home dripping wet, because the bullies dumped more water on me while I was getting dry. Grandpa did his best to dry it, at least. I also haven't gotten much further on the Millennium Puzzle; as before, only two pieces are put together._

"Oh, poor Yugi-kun," Amber muttered to herself, frowning slightly. She was fully aware of how often bullies picked on Yugi; he often told her about the incidents in his emails. "Maybe hitting his growth spurt will help against those meanies." She read on.

_You certainly are braver than I am- I never could have spoken to a random stranger in Japanese or English. Have you thought about being a translator? Not many Americans know Japanese like you do. Funny how you mentioned the track race; I nearly forgot about it. While I was running, I could imagine you cheering for me in my head. That helped me beat my old time. Still, I'll be glad to be done with PE so I won't have to run those races if I don't want to._

_That bracelet sounds really pretty. You should send me a picture of it. Did you manage to fix it all? Yes, my puzzle is called the Millennium Puzzle, like I mentioned earlier. All that ancient Egypt stuff sounds really cool! Do you think my treasure, my puzzle, is really one of those Items that man mentioned? I looked up that Eye of Udjat symbol, and it looks exactly like the eye symbol on my puzzle box. Also, my grandpa has been discouraging me from putting it together because it says on the box, "Whoever shall solve this puzzle shall inherit my dark wisdom and power". But magic and dark powers don't exist, right? So, really, there's nothing to worry about. It would be interesting to have magic, but I don't know about awesome. Yes, you've told me many times how you wish magic existed, even though I think your mind-reading and such is pretty close._

_I'll tell Tea to write to you, too, even though lately I haven't seen much of her. She's been busy preparing for a recital, I think. I've seen her at school, but that's about it. Yeah, we should try a phone call! I'll talk to Grandpa and my mom about it._

_Your friend always,_

_Yugi_

Amber smiled, although it was a little sad. "I wish I could talk to Yugi and see him more," she said, staring at his email address on the screen. She sighed, then her smile became more genuinely happy. "Updates are the next best thing, though!" she added.

"What'cha reading?" Amber looked up to see Kirk behind her. "Oh, that's an email from Yugi, huh?" he asked, leaning on her chair.

"Yep!" Amber replied happily. "Have you written to him lately?"

Kirk shook his head. "Not in months. He's more your friend than mine."

"Oh, c'mon, he'd love to hear from you, too!"

Kirk shrugged. "Maybe." Amber gave her older brother a flat stare. "Anyways, I need to use this computer."

"One moment, lemme write to Yugi first, then you can take it, Kirky!" Amber began typing away in an email to Yugi, thinking, _That puzzle is called the Millennium Puzzle... Why is that guy Shadi's thoughts about those Items bugging me? Is it just because of the hopeless romantic and fantasy lover in me? Or is it... something else?_

_

* * *

_The bell rang loud enough to hurt Amber's ears, and she quickly stowed away her binder and pencils as Vanessa next to her closed her novel. "The Count of Monte Cristo is getting exciting, right?" Amber asked Vanessa eagerly. "I stayed up late reading, and I'm so far ahead of the class!"

Vanessa laughed. "I know, right? It's so twisted, especially the Count himself!"

Amber laughed as well, then stopped as she overheard two girls talking. "Have you seen Renee at all lately?" the one with black curls asked her friend.

"No," the other replied. Amber glanced over at them; they both were from Renee's clique. "She hasn't been online or on the phone, either."

"Could she be sick?"

"Maybe, her mom said she isn't well."

Miranda was standing in front of Vanessa's desk, waiting patiently for her and Amber. Zipping her backpack closed, Amber asked, "Who's that girl?" She pointed at the raven-haired girl.

Once she saw the girl, Miranda grimaced as she replied, "That's Melanie, Renee's right hand man."

"Wouldn't it be 'right hand girl'?"

"Oh, whatever." Miranda shrugged at Amber's correction.

Amber smirked, but her smile vanished after another glance at the girls from Renee's clique. "Hasn't it been a few days since Renee's even been at school?"

"Almost a week," Miranda replied. She shrugged. "I don't care, though, as long as she isn't around me."

"Agreed," Vanessa added, eyeing the two girls before they left the classroom.

Amber pondered over these facts concerning Renee as she walked with her friends down the hall to Miranda's and Vanessa's next class. _Whoever saved Miranda from Renee's wrath, they did it thoroughly. Could she be... No, no way Renee's dead! It'd be big news all over the school... wouldn't it?_

Reaching the classroom, she said farewell to her friends and walked down the emptying hallway to the lower level of the school. _Stupid A/B_ _day schedule,_ Amber thought with a sigh. _I hate having to remember which days I have which classes. Not to mention some days are lonely waiting to be picked up or walking home on B days._ She lifted her wrist and smiled at the golden bracelet on it. _Today seems like a good day to simply daydream, though, especially about the secrets this bracelet could hold._

"Why do you even need it now? It isn't due for two weeks!" The boy's prepubescent voice echoing down the hall snagged Amber's attention like a fishing hook. She was reeled in, curious as she crept alongside the row of pink lockers. _What's going on?_

"Because I said so," a big-boned 9th grader growled as Amber peered around the corner. In front of the bathrooms stood a short, timid boy holding textbooks far too large for him in his arms. _Hey, that's my neighbor Sam being bullied by some punk! I need to get an adult!_

"There's no way I'll get it done in time! It needs to be five pages, but I've only finished three!" Sam protested. The older boy grabbed Sam by his tousled brown hair. "Ow ow owowowow!" he yelled as the older boy lifted him off the ground.

Spinning around on one foot, Amber ran towards the front office – only to be stopped by the deep booming voice of the 9th grader boy.

"Give me it tomorrow, and if anyone finds out, you're dead!"

She heard a plastic trash clank against the floor as Sam cried out in pain. Forcing herself to a walk, Amber casually strolled towards the school entrance. The older boy stomped away behind her; she managed a glance back at him. She only saw his ear-length blond hair and black shirt as he turned down the hall to the lunchroom. Only when he was out of sight did Amber dare to dart back to Sam.

Sam was a mess; he'd been thrown against the trash can, which knocked it over. Now he was pushing a flattened soda can away from his books and scattered papers so he could pick up his things. "Here, let me help you," Amber offered with a kind smile.

"Huh?" He looked up at her as she bent down and slid some papers together. "Where'd you come from? Usually no one's around when Roy bugs me."

"Well, lucky for you I'm walking home today," she replied gently, handing him the papers. "Have you told anyone about this?" she asked, making sure to meet his eyes.

Sam looked at Amber warily as he unzipped his backpack. "No way! If I did, Roy would do worse to me than make me do his homework," he protested.

"So that kid's Roy," Amber murmured. "Here you go." She gave Sam a handful of pencils and a Harry Potter book that he'd dropped. Together they quickly gathered up Sam's school supplies and righted the mostly empty trash can. "I think you should tell an adult."

"Thanks for your help, Amber," Sam said, watching his shoe push against the floor. "But like I said, if I tell anyone, I'm toast."

She sighed. "Still, you really should." Running her fingers through her curls, she added, "You're welcome, though. How long has he been doing this?"

"This entire year," he admitted sadly.

Amber's eyes widened. "Wow, no wonder Peter hasn't seen you around much." Peter and Sam were the same age and usually hung out together.

Sam smirked. "Yeah, tell him I'll be free today. See ya." He sprinted down the hall to class, leaving Amber to her musings.

_That punk... Where'd he go, anyways?_ Her eyebrows mashed together. _I'll find him!_ She set off towards the lunch room at a light didn't notice her bracelet glowing as she ran. She also didn't notice a curious Sam change his mind and decide to follow her.


	7. It's Game Time! Rummykub

The bulky blonde was outside, strolling along the side of the school wall. Tossing a rock in his hand, Roy chuckled to himself. "That was easy," he murmured. "Sam's the perfect ticket from all that boring stuff."

"Oh, is it, now?"

Roy spun around. Right behind him was a girl about his own age, dressed in white sneakers, jeans and a green T-shirt. She dropped her backpack at her feet. Her long curly hair glowed red in the sunlight, and her dark brown eyes pierced him like arrows, making him flinch. "What do you want?" he asked, trying to look brave.

Her face remained serious as she said, "It's game time."

Roy blinked. He brought his hands up in fists and thrust one towards her, saying, "What are you talking about? I don't have time for kids' stuff!" He turned around and began stomping off.

"And yet you'll resort to childish manipulation?" her mature voice taunted in his ears.

Growling, Roy punched the air as he faced her again. "What do you mean?"

Still with a solemn face, she said, "If you leave now and refuse my challenge, your bullying of Samuel Johanson will be revealed to the principal, his parents, your parents, and the authorities. I saw you pushing him around."

Roy's deep, mocking laugh didn't faze her. "You don't have proof, girl!"

"Oh, I don't?" She held up a lined piece of paper with creased fold lines in it. "This is part of a World Geography class assignment in Sam's handwriting. He's too young to take that class. You, however, are not." Now she appeared angry. "And that is not all." Roy gulped. "However, if you play a game with me and win, not a soul will know what you have made Sam do," she finished sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Roy bit his lip. _She's scary... And I can't let anyone know Sam's been doin' my homework!_ "Fine, I'll play a stupid game with you!"

One corner of the girl's mouth turned up. "Good." She waved her hand over the grass between them, and a pile of cream-colored rectangular tiles appeared on the ground. "Please, be seated," she said as she sat down, legs beside her. Grunting, Roy knelt in front of her, leaving several feet of space between himself and her. Just as he knelt, two blue trays with three long slots in them appeared in front of both players. "Now, are you familiar with Rummikub?" she asked cordially. Roy shook his head, attempting horribly to contain his confusion and fright. "Well, it isn't hard," she assured him with a casual wave of her hand. "We each begin with fourteen tiles that we choose randomly from the pile. Then, we take turns choosing additional tiles to make runs and sets of numbers." She began picking up tiles and setting them in the slots of her tray. The tiles were small, about half a finger long compared to the girl's long fingers.

Giving her a wary glance, Roy followed her lead, picking up tiles and placing them in his own tray. "Hey, they have numbers on 'em!" he said excitedly.

"Yes, that is what I just said," the girl replied patiently, although her tone had hints of annoyance in it as well. "A run of numbers is three or more numbers put together that follow each other, such as '3,4,5' or '7,8,9'., and that are the same color. A set is three or more of the same number in different colors."

"Oh, so I need to make runs and sets of three numbers?" Roy asked, grinning. "This is easy!"

"Three or more numbers, Roy," the girl chided him. "The first to get two runs and two sets wins." She picked up an additional tile and added it to her fourteen. "You only pick up a tile if you can't place a set or run in front of you."

"Oh, ok." Roy picked up a tile and added it to the others he had. "Heh, I've got a set already."

"Wait until your turn, Roy," the girl coolly reminded him like he was a small child. She rearranged the tiles on her tray, fingers deftly sliding them across rows or picking them up and setting them in another row. Still solemn-faced, she picked up a row of four tiles from her tray and set them out, revealing a run of the numbers one through four all colored blue. "Now you may take your turn."

Roy flinched slightly under her gaze, but he didn't hesitate in laying down a set of 9s- one red, one blue, and one black. "Ha! We're tied!" he laughed as she selected a new tile.

"For now," the girl replied with a shrug. Her face and posture gave off a slight tinge of boredom, or at least that she didn't care what he said. Roy didn't notice or care, eagerly picking up a tile. "Oh, and there are two tiles that depict the image of a face instead of a number. If you get one of those, then you can use it to represent any number of any color in a set or run."

Roy blinked, confused as she set down a set of eights – one of all four colors except black, which instead had a round, smiling face on the tile.

"And if you can or need to, you can replace that wild tile with the correct number and use the wild yourself," the girl said confidently.

"Oh, ok! I can use that! Ha!" Roy snatched up the wild tile, replacing it with a black eight. He used the wild tile in a yellow run of the numbers one through five.

The girl simply nodded. "Use them wisely," she cautioned as she picked up a tile.

A shiver shook Roy's spine at seeing her deadly serious stare. _It's like she can see through me... or she knows too much._ He picked up another tile, thinking, _I have to beat her any way I can._

For the duration of the game, neither one of them spoke again. However, while the girl remained cool and impassive, occasionally smirking, sweat dripped down Roy's grimacing face. As they alternated turns, drawing tiles or laying them down in runs and sets, they eventually wound up at a tie. They each had two sets and a run placed in front of them. The girl had also taken the wild tile from Roy's run, replaced it, and used it in her second set.

Growling, Roy picked up a tile and dropped it into his tray. "This better end soon," he muttered.

Hearing him, his opponent smirked and said, "Don't worry, it will." For some reason, her grin made Roy even more uneasy. She picked up a row of tiles from her tray and laid them out in front of her – a run of the numbers seven through ten with a face tile taking the place of the number nine.

"What? How'd you get both of them?" he demanded.

Her face serious, she replied, "By luck of the draw, which is how you got all your tiles."

"LIAR!" Roy bellowed, lunging at her. His beefy hands aimed for her throat.

She traced in the air, a glow following her finger. She drew a triangle and pushed against it with her other hand. An blast like a powerful wind thrust Roy away from her. Crying out, he thudded to the ground, panting. "W-what was that?" he asked shakily.

As he began to sit up, the girl strode over to him, holding two tiles in her hand. Both of them bore the smiling faces of the wild tiles from their game. "You played the game and lost. You cannot foil the Final Sentence of this Judgment Game." As she said this, her expression seemed blank, yet her eyes flared with anger as harsh as lightening.

Roy's mouth moved, as if he were to speak, but all that emerged from his throat were strangled squeaks. He managed to stand, but trembled in fright as he likened her expression to that of the judge presiding over his last trial in juvenile court.

She held the tiles face up. "These two tiles represent two way to run your life. One is by relying entirely on yourself. The other is by relying entirely on the help of others. No good life is made entirely of one method or the other." She paused, studying the thug quivering at her feet. "You, however, tried to rely on others – or make others do for you- the hard things in life, leaving the easy parts for yourself. That is selfish and cruel-" She pocketed the tiles. "... cruel enough to be criminal." That was enough to freeze Roy where he stood.

A glowing eye appeared on the girl's forehead. She thrust her left palm out, pointing it at Roy. "The gavel of judgment has fallen," she said in monotone. "May your sins torment you until you desire to repent."

Light streamed from Roy's body, making him glow. His hair and clothing rippled as if he was underwater. His throat was constricted, making even the smallest yelp impossible. That's when the rock-breaking pain hit his mind – and he screamed.

The girl lowered her arm, and in seconds the light trickled away. When it vanished completely, Roy crumpled onto his knees. "No..." he whispered. Clenching his hands into fists, he shouted, "NO! What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?" He slammed the ground with both fists, shouting those same words over and over again as his own memories filled his mind. Every person he had hurt, every evil deed he had done played over and over, blocking out everything else.

As the girl watched Roy, the eye symbol vanished from her forehead. Arms across her chest, she lingered for a few moments, towering over the boy in torment like a statue. Then, she walked away from him, picking up her backpack. The abandoned Rummykub game vanished into the air behind her.

"Hey! Amber!"

Confused, she stopped walking and turned to see Sam running up to her. "Wow, that was so cool, Amber! Thank you so much! He had that comin' right at 'im!" He stopped beside her, his breathing jagged. "H-he's not gonna bug me again, right?"

The girl nodded. "That is correct." She began walking away again.

"Wait!" Sam's cry stopped her. She turned back around to meet his uncertain hazel eyes. "Y-you're not Amber, are you?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Her face passive, she replied, "Some call me that." Turning her back on him, she began walking down the sidewalk and called back, "Good day, Sam."

Speechless, Sam merely stared after her. _That's weird,_ he thought, examining her movements. _She dressed like Amber... she has the same backpack as Amber... she's even got freckles and hair like Amber. But she acted like an adult, and her eyes are different... too different. _Sighing, he began jogging back to the school entrance, away from Roy and towards his classroom. His eyebrows furrowed, he wondered, _Was that even Amber? I did follow her – but I hit that pole in the lunchroom and blacked out for a bit. Maybe the real Amber is going home by now, and I met some look-alike. A weird look-alike that makes games appear out of nowhere and has magic powers._ He recalled the strange girl's face; the memory of it was enough to startle Sam into almost hitting a wall. Rubbing his nose, he continued, _No, she seems dark... like a dark version of Amber. And I have her to thank for dealing with Roy. _Smirking, Sam opened his classroom door.

_Yeah, I think I'll call her that... Dark Amber... That sounds cool._

* * *

"Man, I'm way tired," Amber said to herself, rubbing her head. She stepped off the crosswalk and continued down the street. "Too bad I never found Roy, either." Sighing, she added, "Oh well, eventually Roy will get found out."

Amber was so absorbed into her own thoughts that she wasn't scanning the area telepathically. If she had, she would've noticed the man from the museum, Shadi, hiding in the shadows.

Once the redhead had walked past him, Shadi emerged and headed in the opposite direction, towards her junior high. _I sensed a mysterious power at work there,_ he thought. _It is not like those of the Millennium Items... but I believe it is still a force to be reckoned with._ The ankh at his chest and the scales he held glimmered, but whether it was from the sunlight or ancient magic no one could have told.

_I must discover its secrets._

_

* * *

_

(Author notes below; feel free to ignore them if they annoy you)

MU: Yes, a two chapter update from me! That's incredible, especially considering how I work! In case you're wondering, the game 'Rummykub' is pronounced RummyCube. For the games I use in this story, evidently I add a rule or tweak the rules a little bit, but it helps the story flow. Please R&R! Constructive criticism and compliments both are appreciated!_  
_


	8. Renee's Turnaround and a Strange Energy

[Two weeks later]

Amber raised her hand during English class. Her teacher stopped talking and pointed at her. "Yes, Amber?"

"May I go grab a drink real quick?" Amber asked softly.

"Sure."

Amber slid out of her seat and walked to the door as her teacher picked up talking about diagramming sentences.

Taking her time, Amber walked to the drinking fountain, her fingers brushing the red brick of the walls. About a whole minute passed before she'd drunk enough water, and when she started to walk back to class, she turned to see a pale girl with long blonde hair staring at her in shock. "Uh, hi Renee," Amber greeted the girl with a small wave. "You... are Renee, right?"

Renee nodded. "I... I think I know you," she said, walking up to Amber. The squeaking of her sneakers echoed in the empty hallway. "What's your name?"

"Oh, my name's Amber. You remember me from grade school?" Amber chuckled. "Then again, probably not," she said, playing with her hair. "Second grade was forever and a half ago."

"Kinda, but that's not why... Wait." Renee was an inch away from Amber, her blue eyes searching for something in Amber's face.

Amber flinched under Renee's probing gaze. _No wonder she was feared – her eyes are like icicles._ She took a step backwards, searching the outer thoughts of Renee's mind. All she could see in the girl's thoughts was her own face placed next to another face. The second face was blurry, but the face's brown eyes were stern, like a police officer in their gaze.

Renee relaxed and shook her head. "I'm sorry... Guess you aren't her."

"Who?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," Renee replied, looking down and fiddling with the hem of her light blue shirt. "But whoever she was... She saved me, rescued me from remaining an evil jerkette the rest of my life." Her soft smile struck Amber's heart as the platinum blonde looked back up at her. "And I want to thank her."

Amber blinked. "Oh," was all she managed. "Well, I hope you find her," she offered, scratching her head. "I've gotta head back to class. See ya!" Smiling, Amber walked past Renee.

"Bye, Amber," Renee replied softly with a tiny wave. She watched Amber as the redhead skipped away cheerfully. She sighed, muttering, "I was so sure that was her... Where is she?" Biting her lip, Renee slowly turned and walked the opposite direction.

Later at lunch, as they were eating, Amber told Vanessa and Miranda about running into Renee. "And she really meant it?" Vanessa asked, sandwich in her hands.

"Yeah, and I read her mind, too. No way was she lying," Amber insisted, eyes shifting between her two friends.

Miranda furrowed her eyebrows, staring down at her paper lunch bag. "That... doesn't make sense."

"Hey guys," a new voice chimed. Amber looked up to see a girl with brown hair down to her earlobes and rosy cheeks.

"Oh, hey Susie," Vanessa greeted the girl with a smile.

Susie sat down between Vanessa and Miranda; Amber recognized the girl as one of Vanessa's and Miranda's other friends that she herself didn't know well. "What doesn't make sense?" Susie asked, lifting an eyebrow as she looked at Miranda.

"Apparently Renee's back," Miranda replied with an annoyed tone of voice, "and she's acting all nice now, claiming to have been changed by some mysterious... person." She rolled her eyes and bit into a carrot with a hard crunch.

Susie's eyes widened. "Renee, acting nice?" she asked softly.

"Well, she was nice to me, but we don't really know each other," Amber added, waving a pear slice in the air. "That could be why she acted nice to me... But, she did seem truly changed."

Vanessa shook her head of blonde hair. "I don't buy it." She looked behind her at Renee's clique. "She'd never change so suddenly."

"But she's been gone for three weeks," Susie offered.

"So? Doesn't mean she's not the same person," Vanessa retorted, glaring at Renee.

"I agree," Miranda added after nibbling on a carrot.

Amber watched Renee curiously. She seemed to be... arguing with the girl with hair in black curls. _That can't be right... Isn't that girl her best friend?_ Amber wondered as she finished her pear. They were too far away for Amber to hear, but the two girls seemed to be in quite the heated debate. They were almost shouting as kids at tables closer to them gave them strange looks. Finally, Renee slowly backed away, her mouth unmoving as the other girl continued barking at her angrily. Renee shook her head and stomped away, completely ignoring her clique as they stared at her.

"...Fine! And don't come back!" the black-haired girl shouted, throwing something at the ground and stomping on it.

Amber clenched a fist. _She stepped on a charm... It meant a lot to her before now,_ she thought with shock, gathering the information from the girl's mind. She watched Renee leave the lunchroom, biting her lip uncertainly.

"Oh, Mir, did you read the latest _Vampirates _book?" Vanessa's voice brought Amber's attention back to her friends.

"I'm on Chapter 23! Man, that twist in Chapter 15 was a shock!" Miranda replied with a laugh.

"I know, right?"

Amber laughed, twisting a curl around her finger. "Pirates are cool, but vampires..." She shuddered, sticking her tongue out. "Ick."

"Well, this series is so fascinating! Oh, dangit." Vanessa attempted to lick the mayonnaise that had fallen onto the sleeve of her blue T-shirt.

"Here, I'll go grab you a napkin, V," Amber offered, standing up. She jogged over to the cafeteria food area, snatched a few paper napkins, and froze as she neared Renee's clique. Light reflected off a small silver charm on the ground, and the redhead bent down and picked it up. The charm was simple, just the words "Best Friends" stacked on top of a heart, but it now had a crack in its center. _Something's up, though... _She glanced at the group of five girls chattering before walking away. _That black-haired girl... what's her name again? Oh, Joanna. I love telepathy! Anyways, she doesn't feel hurt... just angry, and she's scheming to get back at Renee. But what can I do? Probably nothing..._

Meanwhile, Renee's former best friend Joanna watched Amber walk back to her friends. She adjusted her purple flower headband and smoothed down the collar on her shirt. "You know who that is?" she casually asked the brunette sitting next to her.

"Nope, never seen her before," the brunette replied with a shrug.

Joanna smirked evilly. "She fits the girl Renee described. She'll pay for making Renee leave... I swear it." Then, she scowled, pounding the table and tossing half of the clique's lunches into the air. "She. Will. Pay."

* * *

"Amber!"

From the rocking chair she sat in, Amber looked up from her copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. "Yeah, Mom?" she called back.

She saw her mother in the window cut out of the wall between the TV room and the kitchen, holding her crying baby sister. "Can you rock Crystal for me, please?" she asked, walking into the TV room.

"Oh, sure!" Amber stood up and took Crystal from her mother. "Why?" she asked, holding Crystal so the red-haired baby had her face in her shoulder.

"Because I need to help Josh," was all her mom replied as she left the room.

"Oh," Amber said with a shrug. She automatically starting to rock back and forth while standing and holding Crystal. The baby's shrieks weren't piercing yet, but they still cut Amber's tender heart. Slowly walking around the room, she dipped her head so her mouth rested close to Crystal's tiny ear. She hummed a children's song while she read Crystal's mind. Unlike with most people, Amber didn't see detailed images or words in Crystal's mind; she simply felt what Crystal did and tried to alleviate the baby's simple troubles. Usually, she sent wave of peaceful emotions to Crystal's mind directly, as well as influencing her emotions with song. Music and telepathy were two of the only things Amber knew of that could directly touch a person's mind or heart.

"Shuuu... It's alright, Crystal," Amber whispered, rubbing Crystal's back. "You're ok, baby munchkin... Big sister's here." Crystal's tears still absorbed into Amber's shirt, but her hiccuping cries began to slow. Smiling, she kissed Crystal's soft head while walking back to the rocking chair. "Yeah, you're ok little one," she whispered, sitting down on the chair's worn blue cushions. She shifted Crystal so Crystal lay on her back in Amber's arms. Crystal's eyes fluttered between being fully open and fully closed. Rocking back and forth, Amber softly sang a children's song from church, her audience of one falling asleep to the lilting cotton-soft melody.

* * *

There was no darkness, yet no light. It was nothingness. At least, this place was nothingness in appearance. Its lone inhabitant perked up from where she sat, curled up in a ball, lifting her head as she heard a lullaby reaching her.

_That song... It tugs at a memory long forgotton, like a rope. But why? What is it?_

The unknown girl stood, her curly hair hiding her eyes. She reached a hand out, touching the nothingness – and a hole appeared. In the hole, there was a moving image, the image of a red-haired girl rocking a child to sleep with a song. _My host... my savior._

Suddenly, the child began to whimper. "Oh, Crystal, it's alright!" the red-haired girl whispered in alarm, bowing her head to kiss the child's forehead. "It's alright, you're ok," she whispered to the infant. "Big sister's here..."

The lone inhabitant's chin quivered, her fingers slowly reaching out. _Sister... I wish to help her. But how?_ A wet line formed on the lonely girl's cheek. _Please, what powers lock me here, whatever you are... Reach out, touch her... touch them._

_Sister... sister..._

Her silhouette glowed gold. Tendrils of light wove out of the nothingness, through the hole, wrapping themselves around the pair of sisters in a protective cocoon. The child's cries hushed immediately, her eyes closed.

Through tears, the lonely girl smiled. _Peace and comfort... that much I can do for you, my host... Please... if you can hear me... help me..._

Startled, Amber stared at Crystal, now peacefully asleep. "Wow... what was that?" she whispered. Looking up and around, she searched for something or someone, but she was alone in the room. Yet, not even her brothers yelling while playing Nintendo could annoy her. Smiling, Amber closed her own eyes, leaning back. _I have no clue what this is I feel... but I like it._

If Amber had bothered to look down at her wrist, she would have seen the bracelet glowing like it was underwater. Soon, though, the glow vanished, its task fulfilled.

* * *

Shadi jolted, stopping in his tracks. _That power... It showed itself again._ He gripped the Scales tighter in his hand. _But it disappeared. Where could it be?_ He turned around, the street light from above his head masking his face. "Curse it," he muttered, setting off at a run. He didn't have long to follow the faint trail the power left, after all. Already, he began to feel its influence weakening – and he collapsed to the ground.

"W-what?" he gasped, clutching his chest and the Key. "S-something is fighting me..." He swore under his breath as he trembled, slowly standing. "This power does not wish me to follow it." Eyes still blank, he turned and walked in the direction he'd started out in.

_Next time, I'll find it. I'll track it down to it's source. This power may be the guide I'm looking for._

_

* * *

_(Author's notes below)

MU: Ok, first off... I'm so sorry if that super surreal scene at the end weirded anyone out to the extreme. Seriously, I did NOT plan for that to be there... but it popped up as I was writing, and I couldn't stand to take it out. Maybe it actually tells you more about this mysterious presence... But anyways, thanks to all of those that have reviewed my story so far! Please review- and if you ask any specific questions or point out something in particular you liked/disliked about any of the chapters so far, I'll list your name in the next chapter I post!


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